In the words of an age-old
proverb: "It depends on WHOSE ox gets gored!" To be politically correct
today requires a boundless sensitivity towards all of those whose
life-style stands in flagrant contradiction to the teachings of Christ,
whereas for Christian sensitivities no concern needs to be shown at all.
In illustration whereof, without further comment, may I cite two recent
news reports, one from The Weekly
Standard for April 23rd, the other from The Washington Times (national
edition) for March 26th. First off, the report from The Weekly Standard.

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Pilgrim's
Progress

The
Weekly Standard, April 23, 2012

Every now and then The Scrapbook is pleased to report on an outbreak of common sense in our
increasingly diversified and multicultural society, and that is what we
are doing here. We must warn readers, however, that the intervention of common sense
(as often happens) occurs only in the
wake of an appalling sequence of events.

The scene is Warwick, Rhode
Island, and the place is Pilgrim High School, where 17-year-old Liz
Bierendy had been commissioned to paint a mural in one of the school's
corridors. It was suggested to her that she depict the various stages
in a boy's life, from early childhood to early adulthood, and she did.
Her final scene depicted the boy as a young married man with
intertwined wedding bands hanging in the air above the couple.

The Scrapbook, at this juncture, is constrained to point out that the married couple depicted in Miss
Bierendy's mural comprises a man and
a woman-and therein lies the problem. According to the Providence Journal, Pilgrim High
School officials had the marriage
portion of the mural "painted over because there was some concern that
the traditional ending might offend some people with alternative
lifestyles."

Allow The Scrapbook to repeat the details: A student's mural depicting
a married man and woman was destroyed at the behest of school officials
because "some people with alternative
lifestyles" might walk by and take offense.

Of course, apart from the fact that school officials here seemed to be
searching for a problem that didn't exist - and were swift to take
action to meet a nonexistent standard - this does raise some intriguing
questions. Are fully clothed museum visitors in Florence apt to take
offense at the sight of Michelangelo's David? Do non-farm families feel
excluded when they see Grant Wood's American Gothic on display at the
Art Institute of Chicago? How about the feelings of Nixon voters when
they landed at Kennedy Airport? The
idea that someone - anyone - might be offended by a high school
student's innocent depiction of a married man and woman is so
preposterous, so outrageous, so inconceivably stupid, that it could
only have been conceived by veteran school administrators.

Which leads to our happy ending.
Once word got around on local talk radio, Warwick school superintendent
Peter Horoschak swiftly overruled the Pilgrim officials. He declared
that Miss Bierendy's idea had been approved in advance, that the depiction of a married man and
woman did not violate any school policies, and "we should
respect the artist's vision ... If somebody has a different idea, then
they have the right to express it." All of which seems self-evident to
The Scrapbook; but these days, such
commonsensical reactions are the exception, not the norm. Full marks to
Mr. Horoschak.

We are pleased to report that Liz Bierendy is finishing her mural as
she intended to finish it. And the one or two people who reportedly
complained to school officials about her married couple are, in
Horoschak's words, free to express their "different idea." Any
suggestions?
[Emphasis added].

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By way of contrast, in the Chicago
suburb of Stone Park, Illinois, the village fathers found no cause
whatsoever to stay their hand in granting a permit to open a
strip-club standing right next door to a cloistered residence for
retired nuns (real nuns, these, who live in community, pray
daily in common, and, wearing religious habits, practice communal
poverty). These nuns dedicated their lives to teaching school children,
both by word and example, how to become responsible and productive
citizens of this world, while maintaining a robust allegiance to
Christ. And for their contribution to society this is the "Thank you"
they have received.

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God,
Gomorrah and the New America
Andrea Billups The Washington Times
(national edition)
March 26, 2012

On one side of the fence are women in habits and wimples who have taken
vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

On the other side of that fence, if a
developer gets his way, will be women in G-strings in the
business of nudity, dollars, and prurience.

The scene for the clash
between these two competing visions of femininity is a retirement home for nuns in Chicago's
western suburbs, which is scheduled to have soon as a neighbor a giant
$3 million strip club.

Get It Gentlemen's Club is on
track to open this spring in the 5,000-resident village of Stone
Park, Ill., just feet from the
Missionary Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo's retirement home.

"When you come out of the back chapel, you can see the facility," said
Peter Breen, executive director of the Thomas More Society. "When they have given their entire lives to
teach the children of Stone Park, after a lifetime of service to their
faith, these sisters' reward in their retirement years is to be in
constant view of a large pornographic palace."

Opponents of the club have a
public vigil scheduled, and the Thomas More Society hopes to use a
STATE "buffer zone" law to prevent the club from opening after, they
claim, the village rolled over to the big developer on LOCAL zoning
laws that COULD have prevented licensing the club.

According to its owner, Get It
will be more than a beer-shots-and-pole establishment, instead offering
professional-level topless dancing in a high-tech environment
comparable to the famous burlesques of Paris.

"We are Lido for the 21st century," club
owner Robert ltzkow said in an interview with the "Roe &
Roeper" radio show on WLS-890 AM. "A strip club we are not."

He said his club will be a GOOD
NEIGHBOR, both to the nuns and the rest of the townsfolk explaining his
building has been soundproofed and its lighting set up so as not to
offend the nuns next door.

Dancers will be partially clothed
and perform burlesque in a venue that features a Cirque de Soleil-style
trapeze, Mr. Itzkow said, adding that he also plans to landscape the
rear of the building which is nearest the nuns' home, with 20-foot-high
trees that will shield the two establishments from each other's view.

But in a public statement, Mr.
ltzkow called the sisters of the convent his "non-taxpaying neighbors"
and accused THEM of religious intolerance."

As a legal, taxpaying citizen of this community, we ask only to be judged fairly by what we
have done and NOT through the recent RELIGIOUS fervor," Mr. ltzkow
said. "You treat us as we have treated you, by not trying to
unduly disturb us by imposing YOUR
religious beliefs on others [so that I can impose MY ANTIRELIGIOUS
beliefs on the nuns?] All throughout our plans for this
project, we have followed the letter and spirit of the law."

Several of the nuns have spoken out against the club in stories that
have received front-page attention in Chicago.

They have said that when they
asked about the construction project, they were told it was a
restaurant, not a temple to nudity and lust.

There are legal issues, too,
said attorneys with the Thomas More Society, a Catholic group.

Mr. Breen told the Stone Park
Village Board that his public-interest law firm has identified a STATE
law that calls for a 1 mile "buffer zone" between adult entertainment
facilities and "places of worship."

He argued that the location of
the Get It club next to the
nuns' home is therefore not legal and
that construction on the business must be stopped.

His organization has offered the
village free legal help in opposing Mr. Itzkow, but thus far the
village has NOT taken the offer.

"We contend that STATE law is pretty
clear," he said. "That the 1,000 feet [buffer zone] applies. We've asked the village for an interim step
to put a hold on the permit process and take some time to examine the
state law. The village doesn't want to do it. We really want to
see very concrete actions."

The town will allow Mr. Breen's attorneys through Freedom of
Information Act requests (FOIA) to keep daily track of the permit
process in advance of the club's
opening, which is on track for some time this spring.

Mr. Breen said town residents
also are "very much upset," noting that "even apart from the religious
aspect, there are RESIDENTIAL homes that back up to that facility.
There is a swing set right next to it."

The club has been in dispute with the city for more than two years.
Twice the village's board voted against it, but Mr. Itzkow filed a
lawsuit, arguing that zoning laws allowed him to build there.

He also accused town officials of a shakedown, demanding money and a
cut of the profits in exchange for the right to build his club.

The lawsuit was later settled in
2010, with town leaders granting permission to build and saying the
legal expense to fight the club was financially prohibitive.

Within the agreement, the town's
OWN buffer-zone-ordinance restrictions, between adult entertainment
establishments and schools, parks, churches, and residential areas,
were VOIDED, actions that Mr. Breen calls the village "giving
away the store."

Others in this blue-collar community, struggling to shake off its seedy
past, which has included prostitution, gambling and alleged mob
activity, are outraged by Mr. Itzkow's venture.

Stone Park Mayor Ben Mazzula did not return a call for comment on the
dispute.

Mr. Breen said his group does
not plan to give up its defense of the sisters' professed right
to live without exposure to such a business.

"If the facility is not legal
under STATE law, they have to ENFORCE state law," he said of the
village. "We argue convincingly that the contract is voidable
because it makes no sense that one would waive and repeal numerous
local ordinances, the constitutionality of which had not been
challenged" in the lawsuit.
[Emphasis added].

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Breitbart's Coroner Is Dead -
Mysterious Circumstances
Gary North The Tea Party Economist,
May 1, 2012

On the day that the L.A. coroner released his report on Breitbart's
death, he got sick and died.

He may have been poisoned.

It's just one of those things - just one of those crazy things.

Veteran Los Angeles coroner forensic technician Michael Cormier had
died, apparently due to arsenic
poisoning. The 61 year old Cormier was discovered dead on April
20th - the same day the city
officials had released their preliminary autopsy report on the
death of conservative media powerhouse Andrew Breitbart.

According to early reports, Michael Cormier was "seemingly healthy," yet "suddenly stricken" with a fatal
condition -just like
Andrew Breitbart.

This adds fuel to the fire. Breitbart
had threatened to release a game-changing video on Obama. That fizzled.
No such video.

The sluggish release of the
Breitbart autopsy follows the unorthodox, RUSHED ANNOUNCEMENT by city
authorities at the time of Breitbart's death that he had died of
'NATURAL causes' on March 1, 2012 at the age of 43....

The LA County Coroner's office announced in their preliminary report
that Breitbart had died of heart
failure, and that a negligible amount of alcohol was found in
his system. No prescription or illicit drugs were discovered at any
point during the autopsy. The FINAL,
DEFINITIVE medical explanation on Breitbart's death has YET TO BE MADE
PUBLIC.

Coroner Michael Cormier's mysterious death was first reported by KTLA
TV reporter Elizabeth Espinosa explaining how city detectives were
investigating a possible 'arsenic poisoning' in the case. This report
was later picked up and reported in an LA Times Local blog:

"The sources, who spoke on the
condition of anonymity, said that finding the presence of poison does
not necessarily mean the
death was a homicide, because the substance could have accidentally entered his system.

"At this point WE HAVEN'T
RULED OUT FOUL PLAY," said Lt. Alan Hamilton of the Los Angeles Police
Department. "It is one of the things being considered. We are
waiting for the coroner's results."

A toxicology report is expected to be released sometime between May
25th and June 1st.

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‘Angry
Queers’ smash church windows in Portland
by Ben Johnson

Thu Apr 26 9:20 PM EST

PORTLAND, OREGON, April 26, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – A homosexual
activist
group calling itself “Angry Queers” claimed responsibility for
smashing nine
windows in a church known for teaching traditional sexual morality
early
Tuesday morning.

“Upon arriving at the church, we
discovered nine separate
windows had been smashed in with rocks, including two beautiful
100-year-old
stained glass windows,” wrote Tim Smith, pastor of the Portland campus
of Mars
Hill Church. “We estimate the damage to be several thousand dollars.”

The vandals sent an e-mail to local
television station
KOIN-TV stating they took the action, because “Mars Hill is notoriously
anti-gay and anti-woman.”

Church
members say they hold to “traditional Bible-based
views on homosexuality.”

Eyewitnesses told police they saw six
young men wearing “dark,
mask-like partial face coverings” flee the scene around 2:30 a.m.

“This certainly saddens us greatly as our
pastors in
Portland have made many efforts to build relationships with the
homosexual
community in Portland,” Smith said. “Even though they chose to destroy
our
property and scare away people trying to worship Jesus, we wish them no
harm.”

The Oregonian reported
“black-clad
demonstrators…some of whom wore kerchiefs to cover their faces, shouted
profanities at adults and children” last October, when the new campus
of the
Seattle-based church opened. About 20 protesters blocked the entrance
and
screamed, “Shame on you homophobes. You’re not welcome here. You’re
going to
burn in Hell.”

The
Portland location of Mars Hill Church opened last
September, one of 14 nationwide satellites under nationally known
pastor Mark
Driscoll of Seattle. The church postponed its opening last September
after
learning LGBT activists planned a “kiss-in” at their first ceremony.

Police
believe the same activists who smashed the windows
also struck a nearby U.S. Bank branch Tuesday morning. The bank had
been
vandalized in February just before the Occupy Portland protest.

The
latest series of attacks comes just days after the
Obama administration’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
ruled
that historic Civil Rights provisions allow transgender employees to
sue over
alleged discrimination, a new interpretation of the law. The
shift follows
months of transsexual advocacy by this administration, including
hosting the
first-ever White House transgender summit.

President Obama had a transsexual nanny as
a boy in
Indonesia.

Liberal Christians have generally
condemned the church
desecration – and the church. Christian Piatt at the Sojourners
website wrote the Angry Queers had “righteous anger,” but “such a
response
actually serves an opposite purpose from what I believe was intended.”

Chuck Currie, a local minister in the
liberal United
Church of Christ (UCC), wrote, “If Mars Hills Church represents the
worst of
Christianity, and I believe it sadly does, those responsible for this
attack
represent the worst of Portland.”

Lavinia Marks, who lives next door to the
church, said,
“Part of being liberal is being tolerant of everybody.”

But
not everyone opposes the vandalism. “We support the
action and stand in total solidarity!” said members of local LGBT
activist
groups Blow Pony and Homocult. “Mars Hill has not been trying to build
relations with our community. Comparing homosexuality to cancer is not
building
relations!”

The church has refused to respond in kind
or allow the
violence to dampen their enthusiasm.

“A few
piles of broken glass doesn’t change anything for
us,” Pastor Smith wrote on his congregation’s FaceBook page. “Be
encouraged,
stay on the message, keep on the mission and I’ll see you this Sunday.”